Simple Sunday Dinner

Last night I made a simple dinner.

Buy 2 lb brisket. Salt and pepper the meat. Heat oil in heavy skillet. Plop in the brisket, keeping hands away from angry spitting oil. Brown for 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to Dutch Oven. Add 5 smashed cloves of garlic, 1 thinly sliced onion, ground coriander (2TBSP), ground cumin (2 TBSP) and chili powder (2 tsp) to skillet, and sautee for 3-5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup vinegar to pan, letting it boil down and scraping up the fond. Plot onions on top of brisket in Dutch Oven. Add 1 1/2 cup water to pan and get the last of the residue and add to Dutch Oven. Add 16 oz tomatoes (either whole or diced) to Dutch Oven with 2 bay leaves and 1/4 cup molasses. Mix up that nonsense and drape suggestively over the brisket. Bake in oven for 3 hours at 350.

Play Scrabble and eat cheese and crackers.

2 hours later, cube and lube butternut squash, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Put in a baking pan and slide in the oven.

Take bagged kale salad with premade sesame dressing, toss together.

Smell the brisket and make frustrated kitten noises because it smells so good and you're hungry.

At three hours, take out the brisket and shred the meat by scraping it with a fork (it helps to anchor down the brisket with another fork. Mix up the shredded meat with the delicious sauce.

Yum!

Missed Connections

To wrap up, I cooked a lot this week and still didn't find time to make everything on the cleanse plan. There are some things I can live without (overly complicated Japanese soup, you carry on over there alone) but here's the list of things I'd like to attempt to make:

Edamame Hummus

Five-Spice Beet Soup

Poached Eggs over Sweet Potato Hash

Mini Trail Mix Freezer Cookies

Fruit and Oat Muesli

White Bean and Escarole Soup with Garlic

Broiled Halibut with Roasted Carrots, Parnips, and Meyer Lemon and a side of Sauteed Kale with Pine Nuts and Currants

Compote of dried Fruit, Yogurt, Pistachios

Farro, Radicchio, and Roasted Beet Salad

Coconut Oat Pilaf

Winter Borscht and Russian Red Bean Salad

Garam Masala Tofu Scramble

Squash Curry with Apple and Red Lentils

Cumin-Cilantro Chicken Kababs

Additionally, this taught me the power of having a weekly meal plan and grocery list. Next week I plan to cook one dinner, and take all of my breakfasts and lunches.

Tasty food ahoy!

Dinners

As I mentioned before, the dinners required a fair amount of cooking, but really, getting home by 6:30 let me get dinner on the table by 7:45-8pm in almost all cases. What really wore me out was then doing prep work for the next day, which in some cases took until 9pm.

The Ultimate Winter Couscous with Green Salad (Serves 4)

2 carrot, chopped

2 parsnip, chopped

8 shallots, peeled

2 cinnamon stick

4 star anise

3 bay leaves

5 TBSP olive oil

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp hot paprika

1/4 tsp chile flakes

2 cups cubed butternut squash

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

1 cup chickpeas

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup couscous or bulghur wheat

pinch of saffron

1 cup boiling vegetable stock

3 TBSP butter

Preheat the oven to 375 F. In an ovenproof dish, mix carrots, parsnips, shallots, cinnamon, anise, bay, 4 TBSP of the oil, 3/4 tsp salt, ginger, turmeric, paprika, chile flakes. Cook in oven for 15 minutes. Add the squash cubes, mix, and return to oven for 35 minutes. Add the apricots and chickpeas with the water, and return to the oven for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are well roasted.

After adding the chickpeas, put the coucous in a large heatproof bowl with 1 TBSP olive oil, saffron, the 1/2 tsp salt, the boiling stock and cover the bowl securely. After 10 minutes, add the butter and fluff up the couscous with a fork. Cover and leave someplace warm.

Serve the couscous covered with the vegetables. Add harissa, cilantro, and preserved lemons if you like.

Serve with a green salad.

Salmon with Black-Eyed Pea Curry and Roasted Squash

Salmon in a Bengali Mustard Sauce (Serves 2-3)

It's not surprising this is so good, it's a Madhur Jaffrey recipe. I did find that rather than spooning "sauce" over the fish, I was spooning an oily spice mixture, but it was really really delicious. I served this with brown rice.

FIsh spices:

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Other spices:

1 tablespoon ground mustard

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 TBSP olive oil

1/4 teaspoon whole brown mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds

2 fresh hot green and/or red chilies (bird's-eye is best), slit slightly

Cut the fish into pieces that are about 2" x 1" and rub them evenly with the salt, turmeric, and cayenne. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes-10 hours.

Put the mustard powder, cayenne, turmeric, and salt in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon water and mix thoroughly. Add another 7 tablespoons water and mix. Set aside.

Pour the oil into a medium frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as they start to pop, a matter of seconds, add the cumin and fennel seeds. Stir once and quickly pour in the mustard paste. Add the green chilies, stir, and bring to a gentle simmer. Place the fish pieces in the sauce in a single layer. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through, spooning the sauce over the fish all the time.

Black-Eyed Pea Curry (Serves 4)

This was so delicious that it is my new go-to recipe for bean curries. I like it even better than the standard chickpea curry, the beans are a much gentler texture.

I used dried black-eyed peas, and soaked them overnight. The first thing I did when I got home was to start them boiling hard for 10 minutes (as Deborah Madison advised me). I then had them simmering for additional time until it was time to add them to the curry, say another 15-20 minutes.

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 bay leaves

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 green chiles, left whole or slit

1 small-medium onion, peeled and chopped

1 1/2in piece of fresh ginger, peeled

5 cloves of garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/4-1/2 tsp pure red chile powder

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp garam masala

Salt, to taste

3 large tomatoes, puréed

2 cups of black-eyed peas, soaked, boiled, drained and rinsed

Handful of fresh cilantro leaves and stalks, chopped

Heat the oil in a medium-sized nonstick saucepan. Add the bay leaves and fry for 20 seconds, then add the cumin seeds and fry until they sizzle. Add the green chiles and onion and cook until well browned.

Meanwhile, using a blender, make a paste of the ginger and garlic with a splash of water. Stir into the pan and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until you can smell the cooked garlic. Add the powdered spices and salt and stir for another 30 seconds or so before pouring in the tomatoes. Cook over medium heat until the oil leaves the masala, around 12-15 minutes.

Add the drained beans and mix well in the masala. Cook for a couple of minutes before pouring in 1 cup water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Take 2 tablespoons of the beans out of the gravy, mash well and stir back in. Stir in the fresh cilantro and serve.

They recommend serving this with oven-roasted butternut squash with some spices I don't own (curry leaves). This makes a good augment to the meal, or even a substitution for brown rice.

If you want to add this, roast the squash with olive oil, thyme, pepper, and salt for 30 minutes at 400.

Bulgur Pilaf with Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower (serves 4)

This was a great hit at the gaming night potluck, with a side of more roasted butternut squash. I am unclear on how this made it past the recipe censors, since it has white sugar in it. Actually, with the three different spellings of bulgur and the shopping list for this cleanse being a complete mess, so I DO see how.

I was also really excited that this let me use up some of the pink peppercorns that have been languishing in my spice drawer. If you don't have any, do NOT substitute black peppercorns as they will overpower the dish.

4 white onions, sliced

3 red bell peppers, sliced

2 1/2 TBSP tomato paste

1 TBSP sugar

2 tsp pink peppercorns

2 TBSP coriander seeds

2/3 cup currants

1 cup bulgur wheat

1 3/4 cup water

salt and pepper

some chopped chives (1-2 TBSP)

Preheat the oven to 400 (for the broccoli / cauliflower).

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and saute the onions and peppers for 15 minutes until they are soft. Add the tomato paste, sugar, pink peppercorns, coriander, and currents and stir. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the bulgur, water, salt, pepper, and bring to a boil. When it boils, turn off the heat and add a tight-fitting lid, and let sit for 20 minutes Fluff with a fork and add the chives.

While cooking the bulgur, cut 1 head broccoli and 1 head cauliflower into florets and toss with oil and salt. Put on a cookie sheet in a preheated 400 oven and roast about 25 minutes. Squeeze some lemon over them before serving, but if you skip the lemon, life will still turn out okay.

Better yet, follow this old favorite of mine:

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html

The recipe recommends adding 2 poached eggs to this dinner, but I think that's because the dietitian insisted on some extra protein. Eat my improvised chicken sandwich for lunch instead, and you'll be fine.

Salmon Cakes, Chard, and Lentil Soup

Curried Lentil Soup (Dishonorable Mention)

I mention this only to keep my dear readers from trying to make this catastrophe of a lentil soup. It was awful and tasted raw and chalky.

Instead of this, make the Deborah Madison Lentil Minestrone.

http://lifedivided.blogspot.com/2010/01/deborah-madisons-lentil-minestrone.html

Fresh Salmon and Lime Cakes with Sauteed Chard

These were intended to be served with the above Lentil Soup, but perhaps because I had a large lunch, I was just fine with just the salmon cakes. I don't have kefir lime leaves or chervil, and they tasted just fine nonetheless Mmmm, wasabi paste. Yum.

1 lb skinless salmon fillet, chopped

1 egg white, beaten

3 TBSP rice flour

(omitted: 2 kaffir lime leaves, chopped)

1 TBSP minced ginger

1 tsp wasabi paste

(omitted: 3 TBSP chopped parsley)

Canola or corn oil for frying

Mix the salmon, egg white, rice flour, ginger, and wasabi in a medium bowl.

Sauce: (This makes WAY TOO MUCH sauce. Feel free to half or even quarter the proportions.)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (2 limes)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 TBSP brown sugar

Mix to combine.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Place 2 TBSP of the mixture in the hot oil and cook for 1 minute on each side or until lightly golden. Drain on paper towels.

Chop 1 bunch of chard and sautee in 2 TBSP olive oil over medium heat. Add 1 clove sliced garlic and a dash of red pepper flakes and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Serve the salmon cakes on top of the chard.

Roast Salmon over Avocado and Grapefruit Salad (Favorite)

This was so simple and light and flavorful that I can't praise it highly enough. The citrus was a great balanced contrast to the salmon. Perfect fast weeknight meal.

Take 1 lb salmon fillet (serves 2) and brush with oil, salt, pepper. Preheat oven to 425 and place salmon skin side down on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Roast for 11 minutes or until salmon is just opaque in the center.

Whisk together the dressing:

2 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

2 TBSP minced shallot

1/4 cup walnut oil

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1 head butter lettuce, washed and torn

2 ripe avocados, peeled and sliced

2 grapefruits, segmented (supremed, if you will) from the pith

Arrange lettuce on each dinner plate, scatter with avocado and grapefruit pieces, drizzle with the dressing, and add a big ole heaping fillet o' fish on top. salt and pepper the sucker.

Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Butternut Squash

I know, I know, I said I was done with the squash. But tonight's meal was being served to someone on the paleo diet, so I couldn't rely on the Quinoa salad to tide her over. (Which is a good thing, since it was a flop.) The only thing wrong was that the Fig Chutney was about 7 flavors too much. Figs AND olives AND grapes AND chai -- it was overwhelming savory and sweet without being good.

1 lb pork tenderloin

1 TBSP olive oil

salt and pepper

1/4 tsp fennel seed

1/4 cup prepared fruit chutney (or poach some pears)

Rub the pork with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and fennel. Roast in a 450 oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pork hits 165 internal temp. Let it rest (its so tired) for 10 minutes, then slice on the bias. Serve with some fruit chutney.

At the same time, lube up and roast about 1lb of butternut squash cubes in the oven, and don't neglect the olive oil and salt for these guys, it makes a big difference.

Snack Recipes

I'm not traditionally a snacker, but have gotten into the habit of eating around 4pm at work, as I find that it nourishes me enough to either workout OR go home and cook for an hour before dinner. For the past two weeks, it has been cooking and not the gym that has gotten my love. This next week I'm scheduled to eat out every day of the week, so I plan to use my post-work time to get in a good workout instead. I think the key to that being a successful plan will be a consistent 4pm snack break.

Vanilla Date Breakfast Smoothie

(1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup pitted Medjool dates, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1 cup ice)

Apples with Parsley and Pomegranate Molasses

This was a lucky accident. I chopped up too much apple to fit into my lunch salad, so I fished out some slices that had been mixed with a bit of parsley. Drizzled with Pomegranate Molasses (I found mine in Whole Foods near the honey) it was out of this world.

Kale Chips (with low-fat scallion yogurt dip?)

I didn't bother with the dip, because kale is all-powerful and no dairy in the world could stand up to its might. But also because these were so crumbly I don't understand the logistics of dipping them.

Take a bunch of kale, washed, and cut out the center ribs. Toss with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and lay flat on a cookie sheet. Roast for 30 minutes at 250.

Cashew Butter on Rye Crisp Crackers and an Apple

Self explanatory. It's nice that they sell the individual serving nut butter packs, but I need to remember to pack a tiny spread stick (like the ones that come with your cheeze-n-crakers).

Lunch Recipes

All the lunches were prepared the night before, to be taken to work.

Avocado Tartine

(1/2 avocado with lemon, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper on whole grain toast)

Tuna salad with Celery Root and Apple Slaw

My advice is to slice the celery root as thinly as possible, it is quite woody, but delicious. This would also be good with cabbage or sliced broccoli, I bet.

1 can tuna (albacore is milder and flakes nicely on top of this salad)

1 medium celery root, sliced into thin strips (1/8 inch matchsticks)

1/2 tsp salt

Juice from 1/2 lemon

2 tsp chopped celery leaves or parsley

1 apple sliced

1/3 cup toasted walnuts

Vinagrette:

* 4 tsp lemon juice

* 1 1/2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

* 1 tsp mustard

* 1 1/2 TBSP walnut oil

* 4 TBSP canola oil

* Salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the celery root with lemon and salt and sit for 1/2 hour to tenderize. Drain and add to the apple slices, and toss with vinagrette. Sprinkle the walnuts on top, and add the canned tuna.

Chicken Salad with Apples and Walnuts

Technically this wasn't on the cleanse, it was my improvisation, based on ingredients I had at hand. The Miracle Whip totally violates everything the cleanse stands for, but a girl's got to have her vices.

1 poached chicken breast, cubed

1 apple, chopped and tossed with lemon juice

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and pan-roasted

2 TBSP Miracle Whip salad dressing

Salt and pepper

Combine and serve with 1 whole-wheat pita. Or on a bed of raw baby spinach. Or a little of both, like I did.

Raw Kale Salad with Almonds and Proscuitto

They suggest that you eat this with Roasted Butternut Squash, but to be honest, I was getting a bit bored with butternut squash, so just had the salad instead.

Genius moment: When I found the bagged kale salad (with carrots slivers and cabbage) premade in the Whole Foods produce dept.

3 cups premade kale salad (Score!)

1/4 cup almonds

4 slices proscuitto

olive oil and vinegar

Toss and enjoy.

Breakfast Recipes

Omelet with Mushrooms, Thyme and Caramelized Onions with 1 slice of whole grain toast

This was delicious and easy, except for the part where its supposed to be an omelet and ended up a scramble. Mushrooms and thyme are magic in almost everything, so this was a nice recipe that I expect to become a weekend repeat in our household

Cinnamon Quinoa (2 servings)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup quinoa, red or buff

1 cup blueberries or blackberries, or any kind of fruit you like

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans

2 tsp agave nectar

Combine milk, water, quinoa in medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer for 15 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Stir in fruit and cinnamon and serve with agave drizzled over the top.

Agave is super sweet and delicious, and is now my tea sweetener of choice. The vanilla flavored one I have is especially good with decaf chai tea. It was nice to try this and be pleasantly surprised.

Almond-Banana Smoothie

1 large banana, torn into 4-6 chunks

1 cup almond milk

1 cup ice

1 TBSP brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

dash of nutmeg

Blend. (It's a smoothie, Einstein.)

Rye-Crisps with Yogurt and Proscuitto w/ Mint-Citrus Salad

They recommended smoked salmon instead of proscuitto, but I dislike fish for breakfast. Slather about 1 1/2 TBSP of yogurt on each rye cracker, and add a strip of proscuitto. Eat with a salad of gently supremed grapefruit and oranges and chopped mint, or save prep time and do what I did and just peel the suckers and eat them.

Oatmeal with Bananas and Walnuts

Prepare 1/2 cup whole rolled oats with almond milk, and add a sliced banana and a handful of walnuts. Chow down with a small glass (1 cup) of kefir.

Yogurt with Pear, Flaxseed, and Pecans (Favorite!)

Top 1 cup yogurt with 1 sliced pear, 1 TBSP ground flaxseed, 1/4 cup pecans, and drizzle with 1 TBSP maple syrup.

This was so delicious, it is my favorite of all the breakfasts they suggested. I assembled it the night before, and the flaxseed got all thick and crumbly on top of the yogurt, and the pear absorbed the maple-y flavor. Very satisfying. If you have a spice (or coffee) grinder, just pop the flaxseed in for a couple of secs.

Results from the Food Lover's Cleanse

So, 2 weeks later, I'm back to report. I really enjoyed most of these recipes, but didn't come close to making them all. You should also note that as my goal was not weight loss, I usually ate double the portion.

Here are the ones I'm planning to repeat:

Breakfasts:

• Omelet with Mushrooms, Thyme and Carmelized Onions
• Cinnamon Quinoa
• Almond-Banana Smoothie
• Rye-Crisps with Yogurt and Proscuitto w/ Citrus Salad
• Oatmeal with Bananas and Walnuts
• Yogurt with Pear, Flaxseed, and Pecans (Favorite!)

Lunches:

• Avocado Tartine
• Tuna salad with Celery Root and Apple Slaw
• Chicken Salad with Apples and Walnuts (Improv)
• Raw Kale Salad with Almonds and Proscuitto

Snacks:

• Vanilla Date Breakfast Smoothie
• Apples with Parsley and Pomegranate Molasses
• 1 cup yogurt with a tangerine and dark chocolate
• 1 apple, cashew butter (1 packet or 2 TBSP), 3 rye crisp crackers
• Rye-Crisps with Yogurt and Proscuitto w/ Citrus Salad
• Kale Chips '

Dinners:

• The Ultimate Winter Couscous with Green Salad
• Salmon in a Bengali Mustard Sauce with a Black-Eyed Pea Curry
• Bulgar Pilaf with Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
• Curried Lentil Soup (Dishonorable Mention)
• Fresh Salmon and Lime Cakes with Sauteed Chard
• Roast Salmon over Avocado and Grapefruit Salad (Favorite)
• Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Butternut Squash

I'll follow this up with one entry for each category of day.

Other Impressions:

I really liked how satisfying the food on this was, and how it took my focus off of my usual starchy eating habits. I would normally eat a bagel for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, some fruit for a snack, and only have vegetables at dinner. This meal plan had the biggest impact on making my breakfast and lunch meals healthier. The downside is that, as written, I was constantly constantly cooking either my dinner, or preparing the lunch for the next day, and I really felt that it was onerous. Probably why I finally dropped off in the last few days.

A Happy New Year!

May your year be full of abundance and tastiness.

I am starting off the year with a meal plan that is a bit faddish, and a bit complicated, but it should be fun. For the next 14 days, I will be following the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse. The rules are pretty simple:

1. Beverages: No alcohol or coffee. Drink 2L of water a day. I was doing this anyway.
2. Eat more whole grains. Included are farro, quinoa, bulgar, whole wheat bread, and oats. Which are largely tasty, but I need prodding to remember to try.
3. No dairy, except for yogurt and kefir. I'll miss the cheese as easy snack, but have stocked up on a carton of yogurt at work and at home, and will be trying almond milk for the first time.
4. Meat is somewhat limited, but there are only 4 days without meat, and that's fine by me. This diet is much more fish-focused than I usually subscribe to, but that's a good direction to go in anyway. Hooray for salmon.
5. No white/processed sugar or corn syrup. This is the biggest appeal of this diet. Over the last month I have been eating much more sugar than usual, and wanted to find a way to limit this in my diet. Since fruit is still allowed, I am confident I can persist. I also bought some agave syrup, which is delicious.
6. Eat more raw vegetables (delicious) and make sure to eat every 3-4 hours.

The grocery trip yesterday was, how do you say, EPIC. They have a grocery list, but I felt like it assumed that your entire household of 4 was also participating in the diet. On the list was kale, chard, sweet potatoes, squash, mushrooms, onions, ginger, shallots, spinach, bananas, beets, carrots, celery, bell peppers, jicama, lemons, limes, oranges, apples, pears, grapefruit, avocado, arugula, broccoli, cauliflower, endive, four kinds of beans, 3 kinds of grains. I love living in an area where all of this abundance is at my fingertips, and also to be able to afford (in time and money) to commit to cooking all my meals for the next two weeks. I also like that by freezing the leftovers, I will have healthy leftovers for the next month.

And I also cleaned out my pantry and refrigerator yesterday. Nothing dire like throwing out all the sugar. I just was disposing of food past its expiration date and clearing room for the new additions. It was an excellent way to start out the year, and I'm excited about how this meal plan is acting to shift my eating to more wholesome foods.

Today I made an omelette with mushrooms and onions on toast with green tea. Lunch will be an avocado sandwich with a side of raw cauliflower, jicama, and carrots with dressing/dip. Then I get to make a smoothie (and test out our blender). Dinner is a bulgur and winter vegetable dish that appears to be like a tagine with chick peas, apricots, sweet potatoes and carrots and parsnips.